Sochi Olympic relay to reach Santa, elves

The Olympics have affected people from all over the world, but until now, the North Pole has been shut out of the Olympic experience. Santa, Mrs. Claus, the elves and reindeer have never been a part of the Olympic movement, and that slap in the face was reinforced when Santa was not voted in as a Olympic mascot in 2014.

Relay runners will for the first time carry the Olympic flame to the North Pole, Russian organizers of the 2014 Winter Games said on Tuesday.

"The most ambitous relay race" ever attempted with an Olympic flame will also take the fire into space and across a 5,000 metre mountain, Dmitry Chernyshenko, head of Russia's Olympic committee, told the news agency Itar-Tass.

Santa, mountain climbers and astronauts, all in one relay race. The relay will start in October and criss-cross Russia. Starting in Moscow, the flame will head to the Pacific port of Vladivostok before heading over mountains and going to the North Pole.